BBC Radio 4, 7 November 2022 and BBC Sounds

Famous last words.

If there’s one thing that sends the needle on my unjust-meter into the red, it’s people who exploit others for their own gain. Those who do it while the people they are cheating are at their most vulnerable are particularly nefarious, and we meet some of them this week.

The medium Larry Harry – yes really – needs to wind his neck in. There’s enough pain bubbling under the surface between a father and his eldest son when said father moves on to a new family. Sadly I know whereof I speak, I’ve seen this dynamic amongst my own relatives. For Larry to point-blank say that Lawrence should leave the family house is utterly despicable – no wonder he was “beyond hurt” as Liz recounts. That’s going to have done irreparable damage to Lawrence and Bill’s relationship, and it’s no wonder they both suffered as a result. I’m with Ciaran on this: it’s “totally wrong”.

Meanwhile, the ghost-Cluedo continues as Evelyn poses the question: “who are the other things in the house and why are they trapped at Heol Fanog?” I’m not sure we’re going to get clear answers, but there definitely seems to be more than one entity, if we’re entertaining the idea that there are supernatural forces at work.

We meet Liz and Bill’s daughter Becca, who was born at the time of the hauntings – and we hear about Bill’s art from the period, full of eyes and darkness as he lives under the feeling of being watched. Becca remembers that Heol Fanog was “a beautiful place to live but [I had an] intense and unnerving feeling, even at 5”. She describes recurring dreams and being watched by a “grey lady”, sitting in the armchair in the corner of their playroom. I think that kind of memory would stay with me a lifetime, too.

Bill is (unreliably) informed that they are “safe now” – but did that jinx it? Danny, the expert tale-weaver that he is, describes Bill receiving a commission to paint his neighbour’s favourite horse, Echo. He chooses the scene for the backdrop from one of the fields Echo uses, but he struggles to get the back right leg correct in the depiction. That seems an odd detail to include… until we find out what befell poor Echo. Yikes. Explain that coincidence, I dare you.

Verdict: Art imitates life… but not in that order. 9/10

Claire Smith